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Celebrity Disappointment - what is your experience?

Celebrity Disappointment - what is your experience?

Old Apr 3rd, 2008, 02:15 AM
  #21  
 
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Frankly, you get what you pay for.

Celebrity cruises are quite inexpensive and hence do not expect a luxury cruise. Celebrity is middle class and offers good value for money.

The reason why some passengers are disappointed is because they boast so much:

>>> Experience masterful cuisine, exceptional service and sweeping ocean views in a most refined dining atmosphere. ... Perfectly presented and incredibly delicious, Celebrity cuisine is not only abundant, it is prepared following the highest culinary standards.<<< (from Celebrity's website)

Expect the quality level of an American neigbhorhood restaurant and everything will be fine. The specialty restaurant is better but reaches certainly not the level of gourmet cuisine.
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Old Apr 3rd, 2008, 02:02 PM
  #22  
 
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Actually for mass market lines X is regarded as one of the best in that category and as such they do charge more than others in that category. They usually have good reviews in cruise critic and in CN traveler magazine. Cost is relative. They are much more expensive than say Louis cruise lines but less that say Regent or Crystal. It depends on your expectations. Take say an average Ivan from 1960's Communist Russia and put him in middle class America and he'd call it paradise. Put the Grimaldis of Monaco there and, well you get the idea.
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Old Apr 4th, 2008, 02:31 AM
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We have done 3 Celebrity Cruises and a 4th coming up this June; we prefer this line over others; have done Princess last summer; great ship but not in love with food or staff; NCLAmerica in Hawaii; staff forget about(american crew)...we always take inside cabins; we save$ and sleep better but we also just use the cabin to sleep and change...I do believe the itinerary is most important...and you go for that...I really don't think you would be disappointed..
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Old Apr 4th, 2008, 05:11 AM
  #24  
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Well imagine my surprise as I am checking through posts to see this post which I did last fall. We are back from our HAL cruise as well as our Celebrity cruise and much wiser these days about cruising. Our Dec trip on the Westerdam was a comedy of errors from mediocre food ( different chef )to storms ( first named tropical storm in Caribbean in Dec in 150 years ) and missed ports to baggage theft before we disembarked ( things stolen from luggage not just the luggage) Could this be the same ship we loved several months before - could not believe the change and very disappointed, but we will sail HAL again. Then move on to Celebrity in March. We had a wonderful time - everything was excellent - go figure. What we have learned - it appears that it depends on where the ship is cruising, when the crew changed, who is the chef, who are the passengers ( happened to be very self centered (rude) on Dec Westerdam trip) and what the weather is like. As we got off the Celebrity ship we spoke to someone who had a horrible time, hated Celebrity and when I asked them their past experience it was on Carnival and RRCL which they go on all of the time and love. Another Celebrity cruiser dislikes HAL and Princess and would never go on them again but loved Celebrity. We will continue to go on both Celebrity and HAL and will consider other ships. It has been a good learning experience. We do like to cruise now and thanks all of the posters who helped us along the way - special hi to parrotmom whose info on Med was so valuable to us last summer. Happy cruising to all of you.
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Old Apr 4th, 2008, 03:05 PM
  #25  
 
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Glad that you have a nice trip on Celebrity. Was the food good on your trip? I heard rumors that the food is not as good as before.

For people who like "action", it's Carnival and RCCL. For mature people, it's HAL. I know it is sterotyping but that's what's happening.

Princess and Celebrity is more similar. Personally, I like the Princess. It is "safe". It doesn't shine on any particular area, but it doesn't disappoint either. It offers a little bit of everything and do them relatively well. I know there are going to be people who will disagree with me on my Princess comments.
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Old Apr 4th, 2008, 08:25 PM
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Sorry to hear about your negative experience.We cruised on the Millenium last May ,it was our first cruise in twenty years.Everything we did on board was at least what I would say very nice,the only small complaint would be at dinner , a few nights had to few selections for entrees and the meal was good but not great.I am planning another cruise and will reconsider my options thank you.
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Old Jan 11th, 2009, 08:29 PM
  #27  
 
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You have a right to be concerned. The 1/31 Summit sailing has been shortened and a port dropped with little notice to booked passengers. The reason is something to do with repairs that will require an unscheduled dry docking. But it's better to a few sailings after a dry docking than right before of after, fewer chances for nasty surprises.

Having said that, I did sail Millenium five years ago and it was nearly flawless. Most publications put Millenium class ships ahead of anything from Princess, Ho-Am or RCL in nearly every way. However, I have heard stories that Celebrity has made some bad decisions around cost cutting in this weak economy and the Millenium class ships may be coasting on their reputations these days.
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Old Apr 20th, 2009, 11:51 AM
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I agree with somebody early on, set your expectations. I was introduced to cruising by my husband. Thus far in 6 years we've cruisedon Celebrity 8 times, Princess 1x and RCCL 1x. Hands down, the Celebrity cruises were my favorite. It isn't the cheapest but just the opposite. The staff was the best and we each gained 10 pounds so that saids something about the food. They have changed chefs and we detected a change to the menu on Solstice in December but still enjoyed. Going in July on Solstice to Europe. But I also consider myself a travel snob now- we have to have a suite so I have a bath tub. No kids means I get that luxury.
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Old Apr 29th, 2009, 07:04 AM
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Cruising is so subjective for everyone! Hubby and I have done Princess,HA,RCCL,Premier(icky),Celebrity in the past 10yrs. We kept going back to Princess then found Celebrity and loved it. But our Solstice cruise in Carib on 1/25/09 was disappointing?! Loved the new cabin/features. Food not up to par at all for X and the service was very subpar. 3 prior X cruises all excellent. Maybe due to being new, not enough seasoned crew, altho we were VERY HAPPY to see our wine stewardess from our 6/20/09 Med cruise and she remembered us too!! We are going to try X Eclipse for W/Med 9/4/10 and see what happens. Thinking Aquaclass this time instead of CC. I'm worried about a lot of cabins being below the resort deck! We will see.
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